More angst about the kirpan

Jan 20, 2011, 8:13 PM EST

As the kirpan issue continues to trundle along, Michael Ignatieff defended it in French while in Quebec, and the NDP has also given its support on the issue. The Conservatives, curiously, have been largely silent, despite having at least one devout Sikh MP. It makes one wonder if they’re trying to figure out how to line up the xenophobic vote. Sikh Liberal MP Navdeep Bains discusses the issue with Maclean’shere.

Not that it was a big surprise, but the parliamentary budget officer found the deficit reduction plan to be not credible, and once again, he wasn’t able to get all of the data he requested, because so much of it was “cabinet confidence.”

Susan Delacourt muses that the “leaked” NDP memo on their election readiness was actually an exercise in reverse psychology, trying to discourage an election they’re really not ready for (given their by-election loss in Winnipeg), while Joan Bryden at The Canadian Press ponders the Liberals’ election readiness.

The Toronto Star’s five-year retrospective on Stephen Harper as prime minister continues with a look at his tone and his desire to annihilate the Liberals.

That census refusenik from Saskatchewan (and her tinfoil hat) avoided both a fine and jail time, in part because the judge said the long-form is becoming voluntary. That said, the thousands of dollars she’s spent in the courts on her crusade against it are probably punishment enough.